Getting into Star Wars can be tough. It has a huge history and a gigantic fanbase, and with 50 years behind it, some people are intimidated by the franchise and don’t know how to jump in. Never fear, geeks! We’re here to help.

Inspired by our resident Jedi Noobs Chocobochica and CapsuleJay (among others!), we want to make sure that Star Wars is not unapproachable. We provide suggestions on the best viewing order on the movies, as well as jumping-on points that aren’t necessarily even tied in with the films.

There is a huge swath of Star Wars-related media out there, so if you’re a book person, we recommend books (specifically,audiobooks!), or if you’re a gamer, there are always video games, and if you like to binge, you can even jump in with some of the cartoons and even different ways to watch those!

We discuss the oft-mentioned Machete order, as well as how The Force Awakens (Episode 7) changed the way you jump in and get accustomed to the galaxy far, far away.

Even spinoffs like the recent Rogue One and the upcoming Han Solo films present unique ways to dip your toes in without needing 50 years worth of history to make sense of it all.

Geeky Offer of the Week

Head over toaudibletrial.com/geektogeekcastand grab either LOST STARS or A NEW DAWN. They are phenomenal audiobooks, and because they’re Star Wars, they have ultra-high production qualities.

Weekly Geekery

Beej

Zelda Zelda Zelda. Breath of the Wild has made him pretty much live in Hyrule.

Void

Read Wayward and Ratqueens, which has been given a soft reset, which means you can get into it easier now.

Be sure to subscribe to the Geek to Geek Podcast your favorite podcast app,drop a reviewso we know how we’re doing, and feel free contact us via email atgeektogeekcast@gmail.comor@geektogeekcaston Twitter with any comments, questions, or suggestions for the show. Thanks for listening, and we can’t wait to hear from you!

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is finally out, and Beej and Void are playing (and loving) it. Void has it on the Switch, and Beej grabbed it on Wii U. We discuss the differences in the versions and how each piece of hardware handles the game (hint: they’re pretty much the same).

We discuss how Breath of the Wild treats armor and weapons differently than other games in the series, making it much more like a traditional RPG, but still feeling totally like Zelda.

The setting is a unique version of Hyrule, and it’s a welcome change. You can see the other Hyrules there, but this one feels more alive...even though it has technically been destroyed.

Nintendo did what Nintendo does: makes a game full of fun little details. In a way, they did what Blizzard did with World of Warcraft--took an existing genre and perfected it.

The game assumes you’re not stupid and doesn’t have a real “tutorial.” You have an intro, get some abilities, and are set into the world. It’s awesome.

Hardest Zelda ever. And that’s a good thing.

There’s a story we care about, and we didn’t expect that from a Zelda game. But it’s not a Final Fantasy-style story. It’s told in a really cool way.

There are multiple game systems that Void really loves digging into so that he can experience new and interesting gameplay that may not have been designed or intended, and even Beej got into figuring out how to use the game’s physics and systems to think outside of what the standard solution to a puzzle or fight would be.

Overall, we are in love with this game, and we think it is worth every penny and second you spend with it.

Geeky Offer of the Week

Play Zelda: Breath of the Wild for FREE by going togameflyoffer.com/geekand help us out and support the podcast while you’re at it.

Weekly Geekery

Beej

Persona 4 Golden is still cool, but he got Zelda, so that’s taken priority.

Void

Shovel Knight is just as awesome on the Switch as it ever was.

Be sure to subscribe to the Geek to Geek Podcast your favorite podcast app,drop a reviewso we know how we’re doing, and feel free contact us via email atgeektogeekcast@gmail.comor@geektogeekcaston Twitter with any comments, questions, or suggestions for the show. Thanks for listening, and we can’t wait to hear from you!

There were however...hiccups. Don’t buy day-1 console hardware from Amazon.

Impressions of Hardware

Why is Nintendo marketing it as a console that you can take with you instead of a handheld that docks?

It plays better when it’snotdocked. Suspend any time and anywhere, like a handheld. Faster suspend and more integrated than PS4. Definitely leans toward the handheld side and not the console side.

Kickstand sound is disconcerting.

Controllers: Joycons are great, and they feel awesome when clicked into handheld mode. Also as separate controllers, and the clip thingies make them bigger and more comfortable. The dog-head controller is terrible. But the Nintendo Switch pro controller is the best, and it connects to the PC, too, a bonus. I do not like the dog head controller at all (the grip)

Docking and undocking is very close to seamless. Just be slightly careful lining up the system when docking. It’s smart when it’s charging in the dock and you pull it out it prompts you to triple tap a button to unlock the screen.

Posting to social media is easier than other systems. Plus you can add text and edit images!

I like the “HD Rumble” more than rumble on most controllers.

No install time for games! Even update patches are downloaded and applied in the background while playing.

Impressions of Games:

Bomberman is Bomberman. Camera can be annoying. Kids love it.

Snipperclips is a secret must-own game if you can have 2-player local co-op.

Fast RMX is cool if you like reacing games like F-Zero or Wipeout.

Zelda is amazing. I’m fairly sure this will be my favorite Zelda game ever. Next week will be all about Zelda, so not much detail here, but TONS next week.

Void’s kids like it a lot, and the joycons are perfect for them because not only are they small, they’re much simpler in terms of buttons and control schemes.

How it’s fitting into Void’s daily life:

Playing it docked at night after the kids go to bed

Take it up to the bedroom when settling in for bed and play it for awhile

Daughter didn’t feel great the other night, and it was great to be able to move around and be near her.

Beej: ERMAGERD LOGAN ERMAGERD - ReadOld Man Logan, the original story that was in Wolverine (2003) #66-72, hit on a lot of the film scholar background Jennifer and I have, and we may end up doing a podcast together about it soon / Jennifer beat Journey again, and it was super relaxing to watch / Picked up Persona 4 Golden for Vita while it was on sale. Digging the music so far, thought it was hand-drawn for some reason / Finished Saga, and I desperately want more.

Be sure to subscribe to the Geek to Geek Podcast your favorite podcast app,drop a reviewso we know how we’re doing, and feel free contact us via email atgeektogeekcast@gmail.comor@geektogeekcaston Twitter with any comments, questions, or suggestions for the show. Thanks for listening, and we can’t wait to hear from you!

Day 1 technology and console adopters vs… not. TheNintendo Switchwill be out by the time many if you listen to this, and we wanted to talk about tech that we grab on Day 1. And tech that we wait for.

Which consoles or tech have you picked up on day one? For us, it depends. Void grabbed Gamecube, Gamecube, GBA, PS2, Vive, and the Xbox 360, while Beej was mostly a Month 1 person as supplies and money allowed. Dreamcast was his favorite Day 1 purchase.

Most of our Day 1 video game consoels were when we were younger and had far more disposable income than we do as adults.

We waited on a lot of consoles, too, whether it was for hardware upgrades or some other reason. Beej waited on the 2DS, the PS3, and the PS Vita, and they were all fantastic purchases. Void really loves that he waited on the 3DS XL, the PS4 (Black Friday bundles FTW), the PS VIta, and the Wii U. Same for him--they were all amazing purchases.

We both pick what we get on Day 1 kind of by gut feeling. We weigh the hype and whether we use it right away and how much we think it will impact our lives. Do we think that it will be a positive and consistent part of our lives? We don’t buy based on hype and what is getting the most attention, but at some point you just have to pull the trigger if you’re excited enough about it, personally.

So...the Nintendo Switch. We recorded just a few days before the launch, and we are crazy excited, but we hope the JoyCon woes are taken care of. Void is getting one delivered to his doorstep so he can play as soon as he gets home from work, and Beej has to wait on grabbing one because he’s freelancing and money is spotty for the moment. If a new full-time gig comes in, he will run out and breathe in the Breath of the Wild.

Nintendo releases on Fridays, which is great for adults who work. Weekend gaming binges!

Please go toaudibletrial.com/geektogeekcastand use your FREE audiobook credit on one of Beej’s audiobooks. Help him buy a Switch! The books are Birthright, Lineage, or Legacy by B.J. Keeton.

Weekly Geekery

Beej - Paper and Fire

Erasable Ink Pens from Japan, or “some people love pens way more than I knew was possible, but I’m super glad they do.”

Void - Lot's of stuff

Be sure to subscribe to the Geek to Geek Podcast your favorite podcast app,drop a reviewso we know how we’re doing, and feel free contact us via email atgeektogeekcast@gmail.comor@geektogeekcaston Twitter with any comments, questions, or suggestions for the show. Thanks for listening, and we can’t wait to hear from you!

If there is anything in the world Void loves, it’s a complex system that he can learn and exploit in video games. When he found out about Hitman, he jumped in and loved it so much, he gifted it to Beej just so this episode could exist.

While neither of us really likes the “murder” aspect of the game, it doesn’t feel like it’s really violence. We really do both see it as a puzzle game, and we tend to overlook the violence as it’s a means to solve the puzzles presented.

Beej isn’t entirely into complex systems like Void. They have to serve a true gameplay purpose. Some games are complicated for the sake of being complicated and add nothing to the experience, but Hitman is the opposite of that. It feels as though you are learning skills and building on them as you progress.

The game really helps you learn the systems through its very thorough tutorials--they don’t really feel much like tutorials, either. If you go through them, you’ll learn a pretty decent path to progression that leads into a lot of replayability.

Void describes his perfect 4-step program on how to become a professional hitman, starting with Beej’s preferred playstyle: bumble around like an idiot until people die, then run like the wind and hope you don’t get shot. Void’s system is a bit more elegant.

Paris is the first fully realized level, and instead of writing a lot about it here, just know that Void loved it so much that he’s barely played any of the other missions in the game. It is also part of a smaller bundle that you can get to essentially try out the game, and it goes on sale on various sellers all the time. So get it.

Beej - Started running again, and really working on getting back into shape while freelance work saps lots of free time for a few weeks.

Void - Started running, too! The weather in Minnesota gave him a reprieve, so he was able to get outside and moving around. Spring is almost here! / Fire Emblem Heroes (Lunatic Difficulty and the lack of energy you have to play) / Hidden Folks

Void also went to the Game of Thrones Live Concert Experience, which is a live performance of the music. It was amazing. The first half was not cohesive and felt like a bad fanmade video, but the second half made up for it. The second half used full sequences that built on each other as the music played. It used the Battle of the Bastards and the Great Sept of Baelor scene from the end of the season 6.

The Nintendo Switch is almost here!

We are just kinda waiting for the Switch (looked at other games but not pulling the trigger on anything). Games like Nioh, For Honor, Horizon Zero Dawn, Resident Evil 7, Conan Exiles, FFXIV are cool, but so much comes out in March-ish: Horizon Zero Dawn, Zelda (and other launch games for the Switch), Mass Effect Andromeda, and Persona 5 (which takes precedence for Void over Zelda Breath of the Wild, which is crazy to Beej!)

Be sure to subscribe to the Geek to Geek Podcast your favorite podcast app,drop a reviewso we know how we’re doing, and feel free contact us via email atgeektogeekcast@gmail.comor@geektogeekcaston Twitter with any comments, questions, or suggestions for the show. Thanks for listening, and we can’t wait to hear from you!

For a lot of people, YouTube pretty much is the internet. It’s the world’s second largest search engine (next to Google, obvs), so we wanted to discuss how we use YouTube, get some great channels out there to you guys, and also find out what you’re watching and how you use.

What we actually watch on YouTube differs quite a bit. We initially thought it would be balanced, but it very much isn’t. Void uses YouTube as essentially a TV with all sorts of cool shows and creators he loves, while Beej sees it more as a novelty for one-off views.

Beej doesn’t have much that he watches: VetRanch, Dr. PimplePopper, Woodworking for Mere Mortals, ObeseToBeast, RunSelfieRepeat, various funny puppy and kitty clips, CineFix, and catches up on clips of late-night shows or music videos. And really, that’s about it.

Void, on the other hand, uses PLEX to stream YouTube to his TV where he follows various channels and creators like most people do their network sitcoms and police procedurals.

Void’s YouTube Highlights (the occasional watches):

Penny Arcade TV

Dungeons & Dragons

Nintendo

Star Wars

Waypoint

Rocket Jump and Rocket Jump Film School

Mark Brown’s Gamer Maker’s Toolkit and Boss Keys

Chez Lindsay

Vsauce

Extra Credits (gaming videos, but not so much the history videos)

NoClip with Danny O’Dwyer

Tested.com (any of the videos with Adam Savage are great. The other ones… not so much.)

Void - For Honor Beta PS4 / Fire Emblem Heroes slowing down (things take more stamina at higher levels) / Thoughts on mobile Turn Based Strategy / The Genius Game Season 3

Be sure to subscribe to the Geek to Geek Podcast your favorite podcast app,drop a reviewso we know how we’re doing, and feel free contact us via email atgeektogeekcast@gmail.comor@geektogeekcaston Twitter with any comments, questions, or suggestions for the show. Thanks for listening, and we can’t wait to hear from you!

We are both going through pretty major life transitions right now, and we expect some of you are, too. We wanted to discuss how we’re coping with them so that maybe your life can get just a little easier.

Mostly talking about new jobs because that’s the kind of transition we are both going through, but lots of things cause them, from health to marriage to kids to a hundred other things.

What’s funny about us, though, is that we traded--Void went from freelancing into a full-time position, while Beej went from a full-time position to freelancing. Weird, right?

It turns out that we have kind of the Geek to Geek Career Corner this episode inadvertently, so we talk about how we use our skills from other places to really move into something we love, and that even though we are changing, it’s still a career path that we both intended to take, and that some things happened by accident.

The hardest parts of life transitions, though, are how routines get thrown off, sleep being hard to get, and how sometimes, our bodies just aren’t able to cope with the change in ergonomics and space that we are thrown into when you’re changing jobs or locations.

Somtimes, it’s hard to motivate yourself because your routine is so different, and even when you can get the ergonomics right for your space, finding that space itself can be hard in a new location.

We both play video games (obviously) to destress from the changes in our lives, and mainly use mainstays that don’t take a lot of brainpower to get through. Both of us tend to work with stuff going on in the backs of our heads, and learning new mechanics and systems and anything complicated just makes us that much more exhausted.

Podcasts and audiobooks are a great way to just escape, break out of work mode, and use them on commutes. While they take some active brainpower to listen to, they can be more passive than sitting and reading, which is great when you’re experiencing transition fatigue.

And you gotta exercise. We aren’t doing as much as we’d like, but it helps a lot. Going out and running in good weather, using a stationary bike, even doing yoga stretches at your desk or between projects is a great way to make your day seem a little less exhausting. You can also dedicate some time in the morning or the evening to have some specific active time that you distance yourself from whatever your transition is, keeping that period up with your normal routine that’s been changed.

And everyone has some comfort TV. Void loves anything witty and well-written like Aaron Sorkin’s The West Wing or YouTube videos that don’t have a deep time commitment, and Beej loves old sitcoms like New Girl or Parks and Rec to keep him giggling with it in the background.

Beej - Ink and Bone / Fire Emblem Heroes / Politics (the idea of getting involved and showing up) / Starting and stopping new TV shows: The Expanse, The Man in the High Castle, GoT S6, Voltron / Blue Apron (may save this for a health hacks, but touch on it here)

Be sure to subscribe to the Geek to Geek Podcast your favorite podcast app,drop a reviewso we know how we’re doing, and feel free contact us via email atgeektogeekcast@gmail.comor@geektogeekcaston Twitter with any comments, questions, or suggestions for the show. Thanks for listening, and we can’t wait to hear from you!

Geeks love toys. And collecting things. It’s just kind of what we do. So we wanted to talk about that for a while, and really dig in deep about the kind of knick-knacks that we keep around us at all times, those that are special, and the kinds we just don’t care about.

Void is very particular about what he collects, and Beej is now. He used to be a “gimme all the stuff” kind of person, while Void has always been more pragmatic about the kinds of collectibles he buys. But you folks could have probably guessed that.

Knick-knacks don’t always have to be physical, either. We talk about collecting in games, such as Pokemon and MMO items, getting ultimate weapons in Final Fantasy and things like that. Do we finish games all the way and feel as though we need to get every single thing we can?

And nowadays, there’s a huge surge in toys-to-life products. Skylanders, Disney Infinity, Amiibo, Lego Dimensions. All of these are huge money sinks, but they’re also fun to play. We talk about the line between collecting and playability, as well as the intrinsic value the toys add to the games themselves.

For te most part, Void keeps a few geeky knick-knacks on his desk, and he wears oodles of geeky t-shirts. What’s also very cool is that he has a bathroom in his house decorated in Penny Arcade comics. That’s awesome. Beej is actually selling off a lot of his old collection, and only trying to keep the things that really matter. He decorates his office in things that mean something to him, much like Void did his bathroom.

Be sure to subscribe to the Geek to Geek Podcast your favorite podcast app,drop a reviewso we know how we’re doing, and feel free contact us via email atgeektogeekcast@gmail.comor@geektogeekcaston Twitter with any comments, questions, or suggestions for the show. Thanks for listening, and we can’t wait to hear from you!

I liked the Cosmere Collection a lot, but it's not going to be for most people. The Cosmere is the greater interconnected universe that Brandon Sanderson has slowly been building in the background of a lot of his novels and novellas. He's mentioned that they're all connected and only recently have some of the connections been mentioned in the text of his work.

This is a short story collection all about that. It's a series of short stories and novellas from his various worlds in the Cosmere.

Some of them are brand new for this collection and some of them I've read before as stand-alones. But, they're all good.

If you've read the majority of Sanderson's work then you owe it to yourself to pick up this Cosmere Collection. If you haven't read any of his work or only a few books then definitely skip this one for the moment and keep it in mind for later.

We get so many comments and questions from you guys that we wanted to take this opportunity to address some of them. We take notes on them, so we put the ones together that we didn’t think we’d be able to pull together a full episode around.

The topics we discuss this time are pretty varied, but we think you will enjoy them--mainly because you suggested them! It was so much fun recording this episode. So keep those comments and suggestions coming!

What we talk about:

The uncanny valley in movies, games, and other media

General game design, including pet peeves, the best examples of single aspects, Bartle’s taxonomy, and the cost of games over the years.

Digital copies vs physical copies of games

Who’s our favorite Jedi?

Products, games, and media that we just want to love, but don’t.

Morality in roleplaying games. This turned into a very interesting discussion about gaming personalities and our real-life personalities.

Thoughts on Knights of the Old Republic, including KOTOR, KOTOR 2, and SWTOR.

You know you want to hear our thoughts on Mario Kart. Because Mario Kart.

We both love cyberpunk. We talk about movies and books and games. Is Neuromancer really incomprehensible? How many versions of Blade Runner have we seen? And do androids dream of electric sheep for real? LISTEN TO FIND OUT!

How have Podcasts and Netflix changed how we watch or listen to shows, especially based on release schedules?

Be sure to subscribe to the Geek to Geek Podcast your favorite podcast app,drop a reviewso we know how we’re doing, and feel free contact us via email atgeektogeekcast@gmail.comor@geektogeekcaston Twitter with any comments, questions, or suggestions for the show. Thanks for listening, and we can’t wait to hear from you!

I'm going to be starting a new job soon and when life transitions happen something always has to give.

So, there's probably going to be a writing slow down here on the blog. I've been on the 5-7 post per week schedule for awhile and I'm going to let that go for the moment.

I'll still be writing whenever I have the time and feel like it, but honestly... if there's anything I really want to discuss I'm going to make sure it makes it onto the podcast because that's something that won't have a slowdown. Expect things you would normally see on here as short posts to now often end up on the Geek to Geek Podcast in the weekly geekery section instead.

I'm still going to be posting the podcast on here every week and writing whenever I have the time and topic for it!

Mostly, I'm not going anywhere, but the amount of writing I put out is probably going to take a hit for a while. I just wanted to give a heads up!

The guys at Penny Arcade who do Acquisitions Incorporated released a Holiday Special!

If you're not familiar with it, Acq Inc is a Dungeons and Dragons live play show. It started out as a series of podcasts but quickly became a mainstay live play event at PAX that's captured on video and streamed to everyone. This last year they finally dabbled in actually running a campaign between big set-piece events and released a season of a YouTube show.

This picks up in that same vein. It was really fun to watch. It was definitely a side story so that you don't need it to know what's going on, but it was still interesting to watch through once. This is the first time they've released something like this on a paid service so I hope it works out for them. Luckily, a lot of people have Amazon Prime and it's included with that, which is how I watched it. Otherwise it's only $5 on Amazon video or on Vimeo.

I checked out The Grand Budapest Hotel after seeing it on an episode of Movies of Mikey. I knew almost nothing about it going in except what I learned from that video.

I liked it. It's a little more... artsy... I think that's the word I want... than movies I typically watch but it was good anyway. I really liked the framing devices they used for the different levels of story. It has a story in a story in a story thing going on that's broken up by using different aspect ratios for different levels of the story. There's also some unreliable narrator thrown in there too for good measure.

I honestly didn't know if I would even make it five minutes into this movie but I was engrossed the whole time I was watching it. With my typical kind of movies I would know who to recommend it to and who not too but this one throws me for a loop.

I would say if you get a chance to try this one on the cheap you should give it a shot. In the end, I liked it.

I replayed FFXV. I waited until they patched in the New Game Plus mode so I could pick up with all my levels, skills, post game content, and items.

This time through the game I only did the critical path, no side questing at all. With my character levels this meant I got through the story really fast, which is exactly what I wanted. Although, Chapter 13 still feels slow even with super high level characters and the patch they put in to make the magic faster.

But, I think I appreciate the story more the second time. I still like the surface level stuff going on and the relationships between the main party, but this second time I understood the story better between the main protagonist and antagonist. And that story between Noctis and Ardyn is probably one of my favorite Final Fantasy stories ever. I wish it were explained better the first time through instead of having a big info dump at the end. It had a much bigger impact on me when I knew what the stakes were from the beginning.

I'm still interested to see what else they'll end up patching in and adding to FFXV over the next year, but for now I'm putting the game down again while I wait for it!

Netflix Originals tend to keep our attention more than most other TV shows. For the most part, network TV doesn’t interest us, and we binge Netflix Originals and look forward to them all year long. The only other network putting out content as good as some of these Netflix Originals is HBO. And even that is only a few shows like West World and Game of Thrones.

Hulu and Amazon have original shows they produce, too, and they’re fantastic as well. But they’re few and far between compared to Netflix. Beej loves Casual on Hulu and Alpha House on Amazon. THere are others, too, that you should check out like 11-22-63 and The Man in the High Castle.

Are the non-streaming networks are in trouble? We think so. Netflix is quadrupling their content this year, putting an additional $6 Billion for new content in 2017--including over 600 hours of new Netflix Originals. Just as an example, The Crown was picked up for a full run of 6 seasons (10 episodes per seasons) with each episode averaging a budget of $2.5 Million. So yeah. They’re pretty confident in themselves.

I pre-ordered. I knew I was going to get this. I had the money put aside. I’m excited. I also totally understand why most people would wait. My criteria is generally 2 games I want to play on day 1. For me the winners here are Zelda, 1 2 Switch (though I won’t buy it), Has Been Heroes, and Arms.

Be sure to subscribe to the Geek to Geek Podcast your favorite podcast app,drop a reviewso we know how we’re doing, and feel free contact us via email atgeektogeekcast@gmail.comor@geektogeekcaston Twitter with any comments, questions, or suggestions for the show. Thanks for listening, and we can’t wait to hear from you!

I wasn't sure what I would think when I picked it up. I was just hoping for a slight twist on the standard Pandemic formula. This game gives that and more.

It still has the feel of controlled chaos and managing a node-based board of increasing tension. But this time it's all Cthulhu themed. Outbreaks are replaced with summoning rituals that bring forth Old Ones to change up board conditions. Finding cures for diseases is replaced with shutting gates to another dimension. And disease cubes are replaced by adorable little cultist figures.

I like that this game gives the same feel as Pandemic while really being it's own game. This doesn't feel like a reskinning of the base game as much as a unique twist on it, which is fantastic.

While Cthulhu Pandemic won't be replacing Pandemic on my shelf but it also won't be shoved in a corner as a second-class citizen of a game. It will sit right next to Pandemic and I anticipate it will be played just as often.

Overcooked is a multiplayer co-op game, one of my favorite genre's ever. I picked it up on sale and then didn't get around to playing it until over the holiday break.

In one night my entire family was hooked.

Overcooked sees you take on the role of a chef trying to prepare meals under increasingly difficult circumstances. The levels get crazy, but in a good way. Like, having to run across ice flows between different halves of the kitchen. Or cooking on a ship where the rocking of the waves moves your counters back and forth. Or having a pedestrian crossing in the middle of your kitchen.

Even though the levels get tricky the best part of the game is that it has simple controls so anyone can jump in and be playing decently within a few minutes. Where we're playing on PS4 one analog stick moves your character, the X button picks up and drops off items, and the Square button interacts with a work station (like for cutting). That's it. No crazy controls to master.

Just simple controlled chaos brought on by level design and having to coordinate with other people.

I love this game so much. If I had played it before the end of the year it would have made my top list of 2016. If it has staying power with my family it might very well make the top list of 2017.

But for now, I can definitely give it my full recommendation. If you have anyone to play couch co-op games with (2 to 4 players) you should go pick up Overcooked.

Stellaris is a 4x space game from Paradox. I've often picked up 4x games only to set them down after an hour or two out of frustration. It's a genre I've always found interesting in the abstract but I have trouble finding a game that nails the execution.

So I was a little surprised that my first play session of Stellaris lasted four hours. I was learning a lot and made some mistakes but overall it was great! I came back to that same playthrough another night and played for another few hours before stalling out in the mid-game as all the alien cultures' borders filled in.

I immediately jumped over to a new game with slightly tweaked settings (for fun and variety) and proceeded to spend another six hours of so in that game. And this time I made my own alien race! That part was super fun. The second round was much better since I could apply everything I learned the first time... but again I found myself stall out in the mid-game without much to do.

I looked around online and saw most people suggesting fighting with neighboring species to gain territory at this point in a playthrough. I've never liked doing that in my 4x games so I mostly ended up sitting there researching technology until I stalled out completely.

Apparently there are endgame events that are a lot of fun if you have the patience to get to them but I haven't seen them.

But not all hope is lost. This is a Paradox game and they're very well known for expanding and adding to their games over time. There are already two expansions for Stellaris out as of me writing this. I think I'm going to shelve Stellaris for the moment and wait for them to release some more expansions for it. If they put out expansions for non-miltary mid-game choices I would be all over that. Think things like trading, economy, and espionage. It feels like some of the groundwork is laid for this stuff already, it's just not implemented yet.

Having already gotten 13 hours of play time out of Stellaris I definitely don't feel like I wasted my money. I'm perfectly happy biding my time to see what else they do with the game in the future.

This the the movie that finally solidified the fact that I just don't like Westerns. I've always been ambivalent with Westerns but Magnificent 7 had enough actors that I like that it convinced me to give it a shot.

It is a very mediocre movie. It's completely predictable. The pacing is sooooo slow. I think it's a stereotypical Western but made in 2016 instead of the golden age of Westerns. It just completely and utterly failed to click with me.

I even held out for the end hoping something would redeem it. Maybe the fight scenes would get better. Maybe there would be a cool twist. Maybe a character would actually have character development! No on all counts.

At least now I've learned that while I don't mind a Western setting (see my love of Westworld) I do hate the genre of Westerns. The genre styles and conventions just aren't for me.

BJ is sick and it shows! We hope he’s back to normal next week. Send him well-wishes.

Besides that, we talk all about our geekery from the holiday break and spend some time catching up for the start of Season 2!

Weekly Geekery

The whole episode is weekly geekery!

Be sure to subscribe to the Geek to Geek Podcast your favorite podcast app,drop a reviewso we know how we’re doing, and feel free contact us via email atgeektogeekcast@gmail.comor@geektogeekcaston Twitter with any comments, questions, or suggestions for the show. Thanks for listening, and we can’t wait to hear from you!

I don't have a ton to say about the novelization of Rogue One, but I did read it.

Like most Star Wars movie novelizations it's essentially the movie in book form. While books adapted to movies often work well it typically isn't as interesting the other way around. But, I always read the Star Wars ones anyway just to get the bonus content and context to the universe.

The Rogue One novelization has a few scenes that either were never in the movie or were cut from it. It also fleshes out a lot of characters' internal thinking about events, which is something you almost never get in a movie.

My favorite part is probably the admin documents used to break up the story randomly. They give looks inside the building of the Death Star and inside the Rebellion. It's just tiny vignettes but they're great!

I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone who isn't Star Wars obsessed in the same way I am. But, I'm glad to have read it. I always like learning new things about this universe.

Red Rising is a book I've owned for awhile but didn't pick up until very recently. I probably bought it on sale because I've consistently seen it come up on lists of really good sci-fi. Now I see why.

The world of Red Rising is in a caste driven future where humanity has expanded to all around our Solar System. The main character is a "Red", basically the lowest caste in the whole class system. He's a helldiver on Mars that mines for minerals required to terraform planets. His caste is being oppressed by the leader caste, the Golds. You can see where this is going, right?

I thought I could... and the first quarter of the book was predictable yet interesting. But after that things get really shaken up. So, if I've sold you on my slight info and two thumbs up alone... go buy it now and stop reading. If not, I'm going to drop some spoilers to get you more interested.

It turns out that Mars is already terraformed and so are most planets. The Reds have been led to believe that Mars is in it's early stages and no one could possibly live on the surface. Instead, the surface is thriving and they are just being exploited through misinformation.

Darrow, the main character, joins up with a resistance group and is convinced to try to become a Gold. His body and mind are reshaped through an arduous process and then he's set to infiltrate their ranks. The book really picks up around here and doesn't let up until the end.

I loved this book. I'm definitely going to pick up the second one and start reading it soon.

Orwell is an indie game from last year that I picked up on the latest Steam sale. It got a little bit of buzz for end of the year lists so I wanted to check it out.

Orwell is about information. And privacy. And freedom of speech. All three of these things havve always been super interesting topics for me so that was a plus in it's favor right away. But not only was it dealing with issues I care about, it also has unique gameplay.

Basically, you're a member of the new Orwell program that has been given access to everyone's digital information. Once someone has been declared a person of interest you can dig into anything you want about them. Often this means you need to figure out who they are first. Sometimes you only have a username to start with, or an alias, or almost nothing. But you slowly piece together a picture of who these people are by using the data that you find.

It's a look at what could be with such an interconnected informationally driven society. There are analogs to chat messenger programs, social media, government databases.

This is a game that had a big impact on me and I immediately wanted to discuss it with others, but no one I know has played it. You know that feeling you get after you finish an amazing book and just need to talk about it right away but you can't because no one else has read it yet? That's how I felt wrapping up Orwell.

Orwell is one of the most fascinating games I've played in years. If I had played it in 2016 it would have made my end of the year list for sure.

I tried out a few demos that were getting a lot of buzz, Nier: Automata and Gravity Rush 2. I had played Gravity Rush on Vita so I was excited to start with that one.

What I found was a game that was functionally identical to the the first Gravity Rush. Yeah, it had visual upgrades and looked much prettier. But, besides that, there wasn't anything new about it compared to the first game. I'll definitely be skipping the full game of Gravity Rush 2.

Nier: Automata, on the other hand, I knew almost nothing about. I was going in completely blind but I heard a ton of good things about it. I found this demo to also be a let down. It was an extremely generic hack and slash game. I don't know what everyone was freaking out about. I mean... I guess it looks good? For me, graphics matter less and less these days. There was nothing compelling about Nier: Automata for me. I'll keep an eye on the coverage for this one in case I missed something critical about it but I'm not expecting much.

Overall, both were a couple disappointments but I'm glad I tried them anyway. It's nice to sample a game for free and realize you won't need to drop money on the full release later.

Welcome to the Season 1 finale of the Geek to Geek Podcast. It has been one heck of a year, and we could not have done it without you fine folks backing us at every turn. We did not expect the kind of response we’ve had to the cast, but we thank you from the bottom of our hearts for listening to us ramble about geekery and for being our friends (and not just internet friends, either! Real friends!). Here’s to an amazing 2017, and Season 2 picks up next week! Keep listening and tell your friends!

Much like last week, we wanted to do our Best of 2016 list. Whereas we focused on video games last time, this week, we’re looking at pretty much everything else. From movies to books to music to podcasts to YouTube videos, we break down our top picks of the year so you can start 2017 off right.

Once again, we look at the few letdowns we had this year. This isn’t a negative podcast, so we don’t dwell on it. Beej was disappointed in Batman v Superman. It was a terrible movie that he knew was going to be terrible, but despite his low expectations, it was even worse than that. Void didn’t have much. So let’s get on to the awesome stuff, shall we?

We did a huge list of honorable mentions because we tend to sample a lot of stuff and try to experience as much cool things as we can possibly fit into our lives (hence the Weekly Geekery segment in each episode). A lot of our honorable mentions match up, including fantastic Netflix originals, superhero shows and comics, as well as some movies that we rank differently but still considered some of the best things that happened in 2016.

And then there are our Top 6 picks of the year, ranked in order of Supercoolitude (is that a word? It is now). What’s fun about these is how different they are. It really shows the different perspectives that we approach media and what we consider worthwhile (you can also see this in our Star Wars: Rogue One discussion a few weeks back). We very much agree that all of our Top 6 are amazing choices, but the value we place on each entry is decidedly different. We think you guys will enjoy the discussion we have about each.

Weekly Geekery

Beej - Grabbed an iPhone 7 Plus because Verizon had a deal and has finally realized how cool mobile gaming can be if you have a device that’s worth gaming on.

Void - Snagged himself an NES Classic because he’s one lucky son-of-a-gun. His kids are enjoying it almost as much as he is, and that’s staying a lot!

Be sure to subscribe to the Geek to Geek Podcast your favorite podcast app,drop a reviewso we know how we’re doing, and feel free contact us via email atgeektogeekcast@gmail.comor@geektogeekcaston Twitter with any comments, questions, or suggestions for the show. Thanks for listening, and we can’t wait to hear from you!